Where to eat breakfast or brunch is an important question. It sets the tone for the entire day, weekend, possibly even your life. So if you want to throw a spark in any early meal during the week, check out Uncle Mike’s Place for their Filipino specialities.

Uncle Mike’s isn’t new. It’s not shiny. And it’s definitely not the kind of place you show up in your weekend best with the intentions of gossipping over mimosas. Instead, it’s a no frills diner, but with a Filipino twist.

Uncle Mike's Place started out as an old-school diner - a staple for eggs, bacon, pancakes, coffee, but eventually started incorporating Filipino breakfast items, and those are what you'll want to focus your ordering around here. Mike, by the way, is a real dude, who you'll most certainly encounter on a visit here. The Filipino influence comes from Mike's wife and mother-in-law.

Uncle Mike's will give you both the basics and then some. The longanisa (sweet sausage), tocino (pork shoulder), and skirt steak breakfasts are serious platters alongside garlic rice and fried eggs, not to mention the complimentary bowl of lugao (rice porridge) everyone is served when they sit down. It's heavy duty, but it's cheap, filling, and great.

The staff is ultra friendly and even walks around with extra free dishes sometimes. Add all of these things up and Uncle Mike's is the kind of place you want to check out during the week or any lazy weekend early in the day. And if you live nearby, attaining regular status is something you should consider.

Food Rundown

Lugao

Lugao is like a Filipino congee, or rice porridge. They'll bring you a free bowl when you sit down and it's a nice touch.

Skirt Steak Breakfast

Skirt steak is the classic order here, and it comes with the staples of two eggs any style, garlic fried rice, and a bowl of lugao. It's a legit piece of meat for $15.

Pork Chop Breakfast

Pork chops and eggs for breakfast will make you a stronger and slightly more overweight person.

Longanisa

Chorizo marinated and cured in anise wine. It has a sweet taste, which we love, and comes with the usual eggs, garlic fried rice, and lugao. Our go-to move is to get the longanisa and tocino combo.

Tocino Breakfast

Another meat curated in anise wine. This time, it's pork shoulder, which we are also big fans of.

Spam Breakfast

We'll be honest, it's fun in theory, but we still can't get down with the spam. The other Filipino specialty options are so good that we wouldn't bother with this one.

Bangus Breakfast

A boneless piece of marinated milkfish with the usual eggs, garlic fried rice, and lugao. Consider it even if you're not used to eating fish for breakfast.

Pancakes

We like to get a basic short stack of pancakes for the table because that's just how we roll. It's entirely too much food if you also get one of the Filipino breakfasts, but whatever.